Category Archives: Pedagogy

Frame-Switching As a Way to Get Unstuck: A Student Perspective

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Mary Bridget Kustusch, Kyle Benjamin, and Grace Heath

When you are working on a problem and get stuck, how do you get “un-stuck”? Many of us have developed a myriad of tools, some explicit and some implicit, for helping us move past those sticky places in our work, but how did we develop these tools? How do we help our students develop these tools?

This figure illustrates the theoretical framework used in the larger collaboration for exploring epistemic framing. By placing framing along two dimensions (algorithmic to conceptual and math to physics), we can map how an individual or group moves through this framing space. Each quadrant also contains a brief description of what framing in that quadrant might look like, including an image taken directly from our data.
Figure 1. This figure illustrates the theoretical framework used in the larger collaboration for exploring epistemic framing. By placing framing along two dimensions (algorithmic to conceptual and math to physics), we can map how an individual or group moves through this framing space. Each quadrant also contains a brief description of what framing in that quadrant might look like, including an image taken directly from our data.

As a part of a larger collaboration, we are working to better understand the role of epistemological, or epistemic, framing in problem-solving in upper-division physics. Epistemic framing refers to how a task is perceived, particularly with regard to what knowledge and tools are necessary for completing the task. The particular theoretical framework that we are using considers framing along two dimensions: from conceptual to algorithmic and from math to physics. By putting these dimensions along two axes, we can map how an individual or group moves through this framing space (see Figure). For example, if one is discussing the properties of the physics quantities related to the problem at hand, they are framing this as more conceptual than algorithmic and more as physics than math. Thus, they would be somewhere in the upper right quadrant of this space.

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Videoconferencing Alternatives: How Low-Bandwidth Teaching Will Save Us All

When we try to replicate classroom experiences in an online environment, it’s easy to think of video conferencing as our go-to tool for all sorts of learning objectives—and for good reason. Most of us have participated in a video conference at work or had a video chat with friends or family at some point. We like the idea of being able to see and hear our students while interacting with them in real time just like we do when teaching face to face. But there are two key factors that make this approach problematic. 

1. Bandwidth

High-bandwidth technologies work great for students who have newer computers, fast and reliable internet access at home, and unlimited data plans on their phones. For other students, courses that require frequent use of high-bandwidth technologies can limit their ability to fully participate in course activities. This can jeopardize their success in the course, create a sense of shame and anxiety, and leave them feeling like second-class citizens.   

2. Immediacy

The second factor, immediacy, refers to how quickly we expect our students to respond when interacting with us and with each other. Typically, we think of immediacy as a good thing. It’s baked into face-to-face learning, so it doesn’t feel like a limited resource. But one of the biggest advantages of online learning is that it can provide you and your students with more flexibility. When we require our students to be online at exactly the same time, we sacrifice one of the key benefits of online learning, and that can make an online course feel like more of a burden than it has to be.  Continue reading →

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The Importance of Skepticism in Instructional Design

To many of my friends, I’m something of a Luddite. They all have newer phones than I do; these days, I’m usually about three models behind the curve. Heck, I didn’t even have a smart phone until almost 2014. I miss things that happen on LinkedIn and Instagram, because I don’t use them. And I’m more of a lurker than an actual poster on Facebook and Twitter. My wife often laughs at me, because I lose my phone in the house and have to use Find My iPhone at least three times a week. I do have a gaming console in the house…but it’s a PlayStation 2. 

At work, I’m well known as a skeptic. I am often the one eliciting the eye rolls from my colleagues as I play devil’s advocate about a solution, or the one who might stick with a certain technology tool a little longer than others. When there is a problem to solve, I’m always looking for a free or low-cost option first. You might think that this sounds backward, in a technology-focused discipline where it is indeed my job to move forward and pursue new directions in instruction. So why would I hold back from the edge, and choose instead to look over it from a safe distance? It turns out that there are a number of advantages to treating design work with a healthy dose of skepticism. Continue reading →

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Considering New Options for Responding to Student Writing

In her recent Computers and Composition article on teaching writing using Learning Management Systems (LMSs), Allison Hutchison unpacked the “wicked problem” faculty face when using an institutionally-required system. Hutchison’s literature review outlines how faculty in the field of rhetoric and composition have critiqued the technologies that mediate writing instruction; indeed, this type of scholarship has become increasingly prevalent, as digital platforms for composing seem to be ever increasing (and thus ever more frequently appearing in our classrooms).

I’ve attempted to apply Hutchison’s framework for identifying the problem, the needs, and the potential solutions (albeit in a much simpler format) to a particular strand of practice in the writing classroom: providing feedback on assignments. DePaul recently adopted two technologies that can be used for this purpose, and both contain affordances and limitations that instructors should consider when adopting. The descriptions below are perhaps more utilitarian and less of a critique, but given that this is a blog post, and not an academic article, that framing seemed more…well, useful.  Continue reading →

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Click Training for Humans

A brown and white siberian husky
Rollo Koenig

As the proud parent of a two-year-old Husky, I am well-versed in the many ways to train a dog.* One of the most common methods of training a dog is through the use of clickers. This method of training uses operant conditioning, pairing a treat with a sound, to reinforce a specific behavior. Untrained dogs may attack people if they were provoked. Anyone who has been attacked by someone else’s dog should consider calling a New York dog bite lawyer to help them file a claim or lawsuit. A dog bite lawyer has the right expertise needed to ensure that your rights are protected.

Amongst trainers, the common belief is that using a sound, instead of voice commands, ensures that the feedback received is consistent and non-judgmental. This all makes sense when training animals, but do these same methods work for teaching humans? A recent episode of the podcast Hidden Brain explored this topic further. Continue reading →

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What Reality TV Taught Me About Effective Student Mentoring

During hands-on activities in the web-design classes I teach, I often ask, “What would Project Runway mentor (and national treasure) Tim Gunn do?” After all, if you’re going to take teaching tips from only one reality-TV star, it should be Tim Gunn. He was a faculty member at Parsons for a quarter century and chair of their fashion department for several years, making him one of the few reality-TV stars with a CV that would make any SoTL-loving academic swoon. 

During his tenure on Project Runway, Tim’s primary role was to serve as the contestants’ mentor and sounding board. While Tim didn’t officially evaluate contestants as a judge, mentors on other competition shows often shift more fluidly between coaching and assessment roles, much like faculty do throughout the term. On RuPaul’s Drag Race, for example, RuPaul serves as a supportive, caring mentor during consultations in the workroom. Later, he’s more distant (figuratively and literally) and authoritative when leading the judges in final critiques and contestant eliminations. Continue reading →

It’s Time to Talk About Deadlines

In September of 2018 I decided to take a leap of faith and go back to school to get an MFA in Game Design. I don’t have a background in games, my undergraduate degree is in music performance, but I’ve always loved games and when I found DePaul’s MFA in Game Design program I knew this was the path I needed to take.

This may sound ridiculous, but when I enrolled in graduate school I did not expect to be challenged by (and greatly struggle with) deadlines. Without giving the wrong impression about my overall self-confidence, deadlines have never really been a problem for me. Most of my career before going back to school was as a corporate copywriter: deadline city. If I was used to meeting tight deadlines literally every single day then surely I’d be able to handle following a syllabus and staying on top of things in school.

These are just a few of the thoughts that mocked and bludgeoned my consciousness as I fell into panic, disbelief, and about 60oz of cold brew while frantically pulling my first all-nighter to finish a project for school.

What happened? 

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Can You Save Time with Checklist Grading?

I am a proponent of using rubrics to grade students’ work. This is for a variety of different reasons that could warrant their own blog post. Moreover, I strongly believe that grading is a critical element of the teaching and learning process. It is our chance as instructors to let all of our students know where they are exceeding expectations and where they might need to do a little more work to achieve our intended learning outcomes. 

As I began my grand adventure in educating college students, I committed to making grading not simply the exercise of assigning grades, but ensuring that grading was a teaching tool. This meant ensuring that grading was a formative process both for me as the instructor and for students’ in their learning. I thoughtfully and carefully constructed rubrics for every assignment I gave students, selecting criteria and then defining three to four performance levels for each criterion. When I graded, I agonized over exactly which performance level to place each individual’s work. Any time I did not assign students to the top performance level, I would take a lot of time to provide detailed feedback about what students could improve in their next assignment to achieve the top performance level.  Continue reading →

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Learning Theories & Cognitive Psychology in Higher Education

If you teach college students, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that you barely have time to brush your teeth, let alone ponder how well-established learning theories and principles could improve your teaching. So, for the sake of your well-being and your oral hygiene, I’ve rounded up a few oldies but goodies and some practical tips that are relatively easy to implement. With any luck, you’ll be ready to roll out a new evidence-based teaching strategy in less time than it takes to microwave a Lean Cuisine in the faculty lounge and inhale it at your desk.

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Difficulty in Academia: Limits and Benefits

How hard is too hard? Is there an optimal failure rate for learning? Robert Wilson, Amitai Shenhav, Mark Straccia, and Jonathan Cohen would say yes.  In their 2018 study, The Eighty Five Percent Rule for Optimal Learning, the researchers set out to discover the “sweet spot” for difficulty in academia. They found that the spot where the most learning occurs –one that is not too hard so as to create frustration, but not so easy so as to not warrant doing– is a 15% failure rate.  What does this mean for students?  At its most simplistic level, it means that if you get 15% of the answers on an assessment wrong the test is at the optimal difficulty. 15% wrong? Wait that is only an 85% (or a B+), won’t that mess with my GPA (and perhaps my self-esteem)!? 

While I don’t think we can go so far as to say that an 85% is the ideal grade, I do think that we can do more to design classes that both encourage and reward failure.

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